1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general field or category of production machinery designed specifically for the purpose of securing wreath materials in enclosing relation to a core element to form an initially straight wreath section. The present apparatus is designed for manufacturing the wrapped sections, so that they can be packed compactly in a shipping container, in a minimum amount of space, to be assembled with one another at their destination to provide completed, circular wreaths.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, there have been machines for wrapping a central core with a sheath or covering of flexible facing materials of various types. For example, machines have been devised for making chenille as disclosed in U.S. patent to Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,585,357. Machines have been developed, further, for the purpose of making such articles as elongated ornamental garlands, as may be noted from Herold et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,613,139. It has further been proposed to provide apparatus for manufacturing wreaths, as in Rodermund et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,514.
However, such apparatus as has heretofore been proposed, has not in actuality been usable for the purpose of forming separate wreath sections, either of the single or the double-faced type, having the requisite relative rigidity and strength, and having their artificial or natural wrappings strongly secured about an associated core element. It is important, in a machine of the character described, that it be adapted for wrapping a core element with twigs and pieces of branches taken from live trees. The twigs or branches, thus, may differ from one another, and indeed would in almost every instance differ, in respect to their length, the thickness of the twig or branch, the length and spacing of the needles growing therefrom, or their general straightness. Machines heretofore devised for the purpose of forming wreaths or garlands have, further, in general not been adapted for permitting the wreath section to be single-faced or double-faced at the option of the manufacturer.
Still further, it is desirable that the completed wreath have a natural appearance, and that it have the general appearance of being fabricated by hand, rather than being so perfectly formed as to be obviously machine-made. The prior art machines, apart from their inability to handle sheaths, wrappings, or bundles of twigs of different shapes or sizes, have tended to produce wreaths that have a perfectly symmetrical sameness, a feature which is actually considered undesirable by the trade, since the ultimate purchasers prefer to display natural-looking, seemingly hand-made wreaths.
The prior art, it is believed, has failed to develop a machine which will speed up the fabrication of wreath sections of the type described above, so as to increase production and as a consequence reduce considerably the expense of wreath manufacture. Heretofore, wreaths, and in particular wreaths using natural materials taken from live evergreens, have been largely made by hand, a laborious, time-consuming and expensive procedure that presents obvious problems as regards the final cost to the ultimate purchaser.